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The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 3 November 1918 near Vittorio Veneto on the Italian Front during World War I. The Italian victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and contributed to the end of the First World War less than two weeks later.〔 Most Italians see Vittorio Veneto as the final culmination of the ''Risorgimento'' nationalist movement, in which Italy was unified. ==Background== During the Battle of Caporetto,〔Caporetto is the Italian name of the town of Kobarid, today in Slovenia.〕 from 24 October to 9 November 1917, the Italian army lost over 300,000 men and was forced to withdraw, causing the replacement of the Italian Supreme General Luigi Cadorna with General Armando Diaz. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the enemy advance by implementing defense in depth and mobile reserves and stabilized the front-line around the Piave River. In June 1918, a large Austro-Hungarian offensive, aimed at breaking the Piave River defensive line and delivering a decisive blow to the Italian army, was launched. The Austro-Hungarian army tried on one side to force the Tonale Pass and enter Lombardy, and on the other side to make two converging thrusts into central Venetia, the first one southeastward from the Trentino, the second one southwestward across the lower Piave. The whole offensive came to worse than nothing, the attackers losing 60,000 dead, 90,000 wounded and 25,000 captured. After the Battle of the Piave, General Armando Diaz, the Italian commander in chief, despite aggressive appeals by Allied commanders, deliberately abstained from offensive action until Italy would be ready to strike with success assured. In the offensive he planned, three of the five armies lining the front from the Monte Grappa sector to the Adriatic end of the Piave were to drive across the river toward Vittorio Veneto, so as to cut communications between the two Austrian armies opposing them. Allied forces totaled 57 infantry divisions, including 51 Italian, 3 British (23rd, 7th and 48th), 2 French (23rd and 24th), 1 Czechoslovak (6th) and the American 332nd Regiment, along with supporting arms. The Austrians fielded an army of roughly equal size, but one that was demoralized, with 52 infantry divisions and an inferior number of artillery pieces.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Vittorio Veneto」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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